Even Freddy Gomez himself doesn’t always know where he belongs, whether it’s in his homeland of Chile or here in North Carolina. Either way, he’s living his own American dream.

“People talk about coming here and having better opportunities and jobs and living the American dream,” Gomez said. “I don’t think that’s my dream, but I’m living my own American dream.”

After coming to the United States in 2006 with his family, Gomez attended Williams High School. According to Gomez, however, that was not the original plan.

“We did the paperwork and we came to the United States but I wasn’t planning on staying or studying or anything,” he said. “But my mom asked if I wanted to study here. I thought the classes would be in Spanish for some reason, so my first year was really rough. But I was just planning on coming for vacation and going back to Chile.”

To make matters worse, Gomez wasn’t allowed to play soccer upon getting to Williams because of the timing of his arrival.

“I didn’t know any English, so I told one of my friends from Chile who lives here if he could talk to my coach,” Gomez said. “He talked to him and asked him if I could try out for the team, but coach said no because it was kind of late and it’s not fair for the other players that are on the team right now.”

A year later, that wasn’t the case, as Gomez tried out for and made the team. The season would be his only one the team, though.

During his junior year, he was told he couldn’t play because he was taking too many credits.

To make up for the lack of a school season, Gomez joined a Greensboro club team with players he had met on the field playing against local teams Western Alamance and Southern Alamance during his one season with Williams.

“I met some of those guys and they invited me to play club with them,” Gomez said. “That’s where I played junior year. No school season.”

During his junior year, Gomez completed the junior project, which allowed him to graduate early.

“I don’t know how I did it,” he said. “It’s hard to do in three years. For me, it was really hard not knowing English. I had the energy to take that challenge, though, and do the junior project and present it in front of the judges.”

Gomez graduated from Williams in 2009 in three years. With his mother returning to Chile after her mother passed away, Gomez was living in the United States with his older brother and little sister.

Page 2 of 3 - “It’s pretty hard being here without her,” Gomez said. “She’s in the market all the time and you’re scared people might hurt her. You never know what can happen. That’s the scariest thing that something might happen to her.”

After high school, the plan was to go back to Chile to reunite with his friends and mother. So much so that he even turned down an offer to play collegiate soccer at Guilford College. Like when he started at Williams though, the plan was altered again.

“I got a call from Coach (Jeff) Bateson and he asked if I considered college and going to Guilford and studying and playing there and getting my degree while I was playing,” Gomez said. “I said, ‘No, but thank you,’ originally. I was scared. I just wanted to go back to Chile. After I said no, he called my high school coach and told him the same thing he told me. My high school coach wanted to meet with me and we met and talked about it, then I talked to my mom and she was the reason I stayed here. She told me it was better for me and I wasn’t going to regret it. She’s the reason I stayed here.”

In four years at Guilford College, commuting 40 minutes to school and practice every day for the duration of his time enrolled, Gomez became the second-leading scorer in program history with 42 goals. In his final three years, he received first-team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference honors, making him the first player in program history to receive the honor three of the four years.

Gomez also received All-ODAC second-team honors his freshman year. Having been honored as a member of the All-ODAC team all four years, he joins only 2002 graduate Tim Imafidon as the only two players in school history to accomplish the feat.

“It’s thanks to my teammates and, of course, my family supporting me and giving me the strength to accomplish goals and go farther,” Gomez said. “It wasn’t my intention to leave my mark at Guilford, but I always tried my best during the games and it’s thanks to my teammates that I got this far and earned those awards.”

Through his four years at Guilford, his English improved vastly, and while he met expectations set by his coach on the field, Bateson said Gomez went beyond any expectations he had of him off the field.

“As a person, he has far exceeded any expectations I had,” Bateson said. “I had always heard he was a good kid. I just didn’t know much about him. He’s an unbelievable person and a lot of fun to be around and a very caring, generous, funny person that everybody just sort of seems attracted to.”

Page 3 of 3 - While Gomez hasn’t returned to Chile even once since arriving in the United States, plans are in the works to return to see his mother and his friends, potentially after he finishes school. However, he said he won’t return for good.

“Guilford College has opened so many doors for me,” he said. “I said ‘no’ to my coach originally. It wasn’t that big of a deal for me at the time because I was still a little kid. But now that I think about it, it’s like, ‘Wow. Why did I say no?’ ”

Gomez said he hopes to be able to continue his own American dream after college by continuing his soccer career. He plays for the Carolina Dynamo of the Premier Development League for college students, a team in which finished second in the league last season after losing to Forest City London in the championship game.

Now, he’s receiving tryout offers from teams in the United Soccer League in hopes of continuing his career in the United States.

“I have gotten some emails from teams in the area,” he said. “I got one from Wilmington to go and try out.”

So where does Gomez belong? The American dream has brought him to the United States, and he said that’s where he plans to stay.

“I had a dream when I was in Chile about coming to the United States,” he said. “I can’t imagine going back for good now.”